Sonnet 130

Sonnet 130 is one of the “Dark Lady” sonnets and while it is initially interpreted to be very offensive, when looked into, it can actually be quite sweet. Lines that are immediately are taken offensively are the first two quatrains and the first half of the last quatrain. They all criticize everything about the poor woman’s looks with phrases such as “Coral is far more red than her lips’ red” and “in some perfumes is there more delight than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.” While these lines all seem to be so rude and demeaning for any man to say to a woman, they are simple a parody of the patriarchal sonnet, which would say the opposite of what Shakespeare said. However, at the end of the sonnet, Shakespeare says how none of those things matter. He claims that his love for her is still strong and that no woman has coral red lips or golden wires for hair so there is no need to falsely compare her. This I find to be quite romantic because he is not judging her on her looks but on her personality. Although I must admit, had this poem been read to me, I most likely would have been too insulted to read into the lovely meaning Shakespeare has provided.